View Single Post
Unread 02-18-2002, 08:25 PM   #8
Chuck Shoun
User
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Brigham City, UT
Posts: 30
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default Re: Moscow ?

Being a native Idahoan, and a graduate of the University of Idaho (way back in 1950), I became familiar with how the city of Moscow, Idaho got it's name.


There was an old trapper named Jediah Moscowvich, who trapped in the northen part of Idaho in the olden days (before 1950). Jediah found a spring of fresh water where the city of Moscow is now located. He decided to settle there, married a local Nez Perce chief's daughter, and built the first log cabin in Moscow.


Jediah made his living trapping ground squirrels. Now, anybody who is familiar with the Palouse country knows that there are plenty of ground squirrels around Moscow. Jediah became fabulously wealthy from trading the squirrel hides, and he also sold the tasty squirrel meat in his store. There was only one door to the store, and since the crowds of people who also settled in the area couldn't get in to order their squirrel-burgers, Jediah cut a square hole in the side of the store, thus, opening the first drive-in in Idaho (before 1950). The people decided that the village should be named after Jediah, but Moscowvich had some leud connotatons to it, (there were some words that rhymed with it that some folks didn't like) so they decided to name the village Moscow.


And so it was, that the settlement became Moscow. By the way, the University was located at Moscow because the state legislature preferred to have the prison at Boise -- the prisoners were not so radical as those college kids (before 1950).



Chuck Shoun is offline